The Cycle Continues
by PouringRain321
Summary: The world left him cold and empty. And he hated it for it. All alone in the world, a man who lost his soul and dedicated his life to finding a ghost, stumbles upon another lost soul in the form of a lost Claymore Trainee. Perhaps this lighthearted girl can give him something real to live for, and maybe even lead him back to the woman he has been searching seven years for...
1. Chapter 1

**_Authors note: Sorry that this is starting off so slow, I promise it gets more interesting, and before any of you ask or get the wrong idea, No, Raki and The Girl will not have any form of romantic relationship whatsoever, because he is a grown man and she is a little girl, and that is just a big no... anyways hope y'all like it. Please review, it's free, and I like reading the reviews._**

_Forward…_

_I must keep moving forward…_

These were the words that Raki repeated to himself every night as he searched for Clare…

He had been told numerous times that she was dead, that she had fallen to Isley's army in the north. But nevertheless he continued to search for her ghost everyday, because nothing else mattered.

It had been seven years, seven long years since he last saw her. In the span of those seven years he had been captured by slavers and taken to the north, where he eventually found Priscilla and Isley.

Raki didn't know it at the time, but those two people who had taken him in were actually awakened beings, and for five long years he stayed with them, not knowing what they really were.

For five years Raki trained with Isley and in those five years Raki mastered over thirty different sword techniques, making him a powerful warrior, all because of Isley's training and Raki's own passion for becoming the very best that he could be.

Over time Raki gradually discovered the truth about them, but for whatever reason it didn't seem like such a huge deal.

Five long years after meeting them, Raki left, Isley told him that he had taught him all he could, and he told him that he should begin his search for Clare. So that night Raki packed his things and left.

For two years he wandered around the world, going back and forth through each town and city that he and Clare visited. Whenever he ran into a claymore he would ask them information about the battle of Pieta and if there were any survivors. Each time he asked he received the same answer, that there were no survivors, and if anyone did survive then the Organization would have eliminated them.

Raki thought about his parting with Clare, how they promised to find each other, he had faith in Clare and her promise… But part of him knew… part of him knew that Clare couldn't have survived, and maybe that was why he never journeyed to the north, he didn't want to find her grave, the burden of proof that she was indeed dead.

Seven years after their parting, and Raki was once again wandering around the world, heading to Rabona for his third time.

The sun was setting and the ground was soaked from the pouring rain. It was indeed a miserable day. But to Raki it didn't matter, for the past few years he had been miserable every day, it didn't matter if it rained, it was all the same to him.

He was pissed off and angry at the world…

He hated the world for what it did to him, he hated it because it took everything he cared about away. And he never did anything to deserve the pain life threw at him. First he lost his parents, then his uncle, then his brother, and finally it took the last thing he cared about, it took her and killed her in the north.

"_No… I can't think that way. She is alive, I know she is…"_ he thought to himself. "_She has to be… because I don't know how I am going to survive if she isn't…"_

Raki droned on, putting one foot in front of the other. _Left, Right, Left, Right, Left_. And so it was for the past two years, just one foot in front of the other, with only one purpose, to find Clare.

Raki's rhythmic footsteps were stopped when he heard a scream off to his left, just behind a small hill.

It sounded like a little girl…

"_Maybe I should check it out…"_ thought Raki. So Raki turned left and began walking up the hill, clearly in no rush.

When Raki reached the top of the hill, he looked down to the bottom of the hill and found the source of the scream.

It was a little blonde girl, she was facing away from him with her back pressed up against a boulder at the base of the hill, from this angle he could just make out the top of her head. Standing in front of her, he saw three large yoma approaching the girl. One of them was holding a sword… no not just any sword, a Claymore!

Standing at the top of the hill, Raki was filled with a rage, there was only one thing in existence that he hated to this extent, and that was yoma. They took everything away from him and left him cold and empty in a cruel world.

He ran down that hill as fast as his legs could take him, he reached the boulder that the girl was pressed up against. By the time he got there one of the Yoma had hit the poor girl, knocking her unconscious.

With a roar he jumped off of the boulder and plunged his sword into the head of the closest Yoma, the one holding the Claymore sword, killing it instantly.

He turned around and faced his remaining two opponents head on.

He charged at the one on the left.

It lifted it's hand and extended it's sharp fingers at Raki.

Raki slid under the attack and lifted his sword.

From the ground, he used the combined strength of his legs and one arm to jump at the Yoma.

He sliced his sword through the air and cut off it's arm.

He spun around and quickly cut the monster in half.

As he did this the third Yoma charged at him. He sent a powerful kick towards Raki's back, knocking him off his feet.

Raki spun in the air and preformed a small flip, landing crouched down, but on his feet.

With incredible speed and dexterity, Raki pounced at the yoma, sending his sword straight through the beasts heart.

Raki stepped back, with all threats eliminated he let out a small smile. He had one other passion in life besides finding Clare, and it was eliminating all evil from the world, and he was damn good at it too.

"Now that that's taken care of, I can move on…" he began to walk away.

Suddenly he remembered the original reason he came to fight these yoma. They were attacking that little girl. "Oh yea… I almost forgot…" he said to himself. "Now what to do with you…" he turned around to face the little girl, but when he saw her he immediately gasped in shock.

He looked at "little girl" he just saved, she had blonde spikey hair that went down half of her neck, she had pale skin and she was wearing the uniform of a warrior. This was no ordinary girl, it was a Claymore.

He walked over to her, she had been hit hard and was knocked unconscious, she had a lot of cuts on her body and was bleeding, she also had a small cut on her forehead which was likely due to the yoma hitting her so hard. She likely had a concussion. The cuts alone wouldn't have killed her, and Raki knew that Claymores couldn't really die of exposure either... He could have left her, afterall, she wasn't his problem, but he wouldn't allow himself to leave her on the side of the road, something about her face reminded him of Clare.

"Fuck it…" he said out loud. He picked up the Claymore sword that the Yoma was holding and noticed that the edges weren't sharpened, they were blunt. And the sword had no emblem. "That's weird, do you not have an emblem…" he said looking at the girl's neck, finding no emblem there either…

He remembered what Clare said all those years ago when he asked about her emblem. She told him that when they graduated and became full Claymore's then they received their emblem.

"Are you just a trainee? What are you doing all the way out here" he said to the passed out girl. "It doesn't matter… I won't know you for very long anyway…" he said.

He sheathed his own sword. And with one hand he then threw the small girl over his shoulder, still holding on to her sword with the other.

Raki knew that there was a town about three miles west from his current location. It was out of the way, but Raki felt like he needed some rest anyway. He began marching west towards the small town.

The Inn was quiet tonight like most lights, it was located on the edge of a small town known as Galeta. Occasionally a few strangers would pass through and not bother anyone, but other than that the town rarely received visitors, to adapt to this, the Inn was renovated and turned into a half inn, half bar structure, this allowed the Inn to stay in business.

The town has never had a yoma incident, they still heard and knew about them through travelling strangers.

But they also heard about those that hunt the yoma…

The dreaded silver eyed witches. Half human, Half monster hybrids that showed up to fight off yoma when there was enough money involved. They had only ever heard bad things about them, and the head of the town decided that even if there was a yoma, they wouldn't call for a Claymore.

No one in the town had ever seen a Claymore… until tonight that is…

The Inn/bar was mostly quiet, there was only one man inside other than the inn/bar keeper, but neither of them were talking. The only noise in the room was the constant drum of rain hitting the rooftop.

Suddenly a strange man burst through the entrance of the inn, carrying two massive swords and an unconscious little girl on his shoulder. The strange man approached the innkeeper.

"How much for two rooms?" he asked wearily.

"Two? Oh… umm… 20 pieces." he said in surprise. "Is she alright? Are you her father? Why is she dressed like that?" he asked.

Raki didn't respond, he just dumped 20 gold pieces onto the innkeepers counter. "Thank you for your concern, but she should be alright, and no I am not her father, I found her on the side of the road a few miles east of here…" he said coldly.

"And you want two rooms?" asked the innkeeper.

"Yes, she herself and other people might get the wrong idea if I, a full grown man, spend the night with her, an unconscious little girl." Said Raki.

"Oh… I see…" said the innkeeper, handing Raki two keys, "Your rooms are at the top of the stairs on the far left…"

"Thank you." said Raki, turning around. As he began walking up the stairs he heard a voice.

"That ain't no little girl…" said the other man in the bar. "That there is one of them silver eyed witches!" he said bitterly. "We don't want none of their kind around here!"

The innkeeper looked up at Raki, "Wait? That girl is a Claymore?"

Raki stopped moving, he turned his head slightly towards the innkeeper. "Yes she is, you got rules against Claymore's or something?" asked Raki.

"Well, no but… you know she gave up her humanity to be half monster right?" said the innkeeper.

"Maybe… or maybe she's just little girl, a scared little girl who is just a victim of circumstance…" Said Raki turning away from the innkeeper. He continued up the stairs and towards the two rooms he got.

He opened the first room, he walked in and layed the little girl down on the bed, her wounds were already mostly healed up. "Huh, thats weird… even Clare's wounds didn't heal THAT fast..." said Raki to himself. "Whatever, I'm sure it's nothing…" he said. He laid her Claymore sword by her bed. "Perhaps, I will see you tomorrow…" said Raki.

Raki was sympathetic towards Claymores, throughout his life he had been thrown out and treated poorly by most humans, but he felt a kinship with Claymores, because the majority of them, just like him, had everything they loved stripped away from them and much like him, were just victims of circumstance and fate.

Raki left for his own room, he opened the door, locked it, and threw himself into bed.

"_Where am I?"_ these were the first words that entered the young Claymores mind as she sat up in her bed.

The last thing she remembered was being scared and alone, running like hell from a pack of yoma, suddenly she was cornered against a rock, one of them attacked her and then… she was here…

She looked around, she was surrounded by rather nice looking furniture. "Am I dead?" she asked herself, panicking a little, "I don't want to be dead!" she said becoming a little teary eyed.

Suddenly she heard a knock come from the door to her room. "I'm coming in…" said a deep male voice.

The door opened and a tall and strong man walked in. "I see you are awake…" he said approaching her.

"Where am I, am I dead?" she asked the man.

The man stared at her. "No, but you would be if I didn't come and save you at the last moment." he said.

"You… saved me?" she asked the man in amazement.

"Yes…" he said coldly. "I see that you don't have an emblem, tell me, what is a claymore trainee doing all the way out here?" he asked.

She looked down, she felt a stinging sensation on the back of her eyes.

"Hmm… Well I can't leave you here alone like this I suppose. So I guess I could just bring you to the next Claymore I find and-" he was cut off.

"NO!" said the little girl, looking up with fear in her eyes. "No… please… I can't go back there!" she pleaded.

The man looked at her strangely. "Well… I can't just leave you alone… do you have any family?" he asked.

She paused for a moment. "My grandparents! They are still alive!" she said with hope in her eyes. "They are wealthy and they live in Mirstone! They can pay you if you take me to them" she said.

Mirstone was on the way to Rabona, it wouldn't be too much of a hassle to bring her there.

"Okay girl." he said coldly. "I guess I can deliver you to your grandparents." he said. "Be ready to leave in 15 minutes. Do NOT keep me waiting…" said the man walking out of the room.

"Thank you so much mister!" She said Warmly. "Ermm… Mister?" she asked.

"Yes?" he said over his shoulder.

"If we're going to be travelling together than we should learn each other's names." she said with as smile. "My name is-" he cut her off.

"I'm going to stop you right there…" he said turning to face her, looking at her silver eyes. "We aren't going to do this whole name thing. Although I am bringing you with me that does not mean it will be for very long. It's best for both of us if we don't get attached and we just move on with our lives and forget this ever happened." he said coldly.

"But you saved my life! How can I about forget you?" she asked.

Raki stared at her for a long time. Something about her last sentence reminded him of something he said to Clare a long time ago.

"_I will never forget you!"_ he remembered crying to Clare.

"Fine…" he said looking down at her. "My name is Raki… what about you?" he said slightly annoyed.

"My name is Clara!" Beamed the little claymore.

Raki stared at her in bewilderment. The universe indeed seemed to be messing with him. Forcing him to remember Clare.

Raki scowled and turned his back towards Clara, her smile died down as he did this. "What's wrong Raki?" she asked.

"Nothing, Just be ready to go in 15 minutes…" he said walking away.

"Okay. And thank you again!" She said with hope in her voice.

Raki didn't respond, he just continued into his room. "_I better bring her to her grandparents fast, the sooner I get this over with the sooner I can continue my search for Clare…" _he thought to himself.

"_I hope her grandparents are still alive… because I can't take her with me, I need to find Clare..."_

"He's not here either…"

It had been seven years, seven years since she made her promise to stay alive so that she might one day reunite with Raki.

For seven years Clare searched all over the north for her lost companion, and for seven years she found nothing.

"Clare… I think it's time you let this go…" said Yuma.

"No. I promised that I would look for him, he just hasn't gone this far north yet… But he's alive. I know he is!" she said hopefully.

"Clare, it's been seven years, he would have come to the north by now if he were still...you know…"

"Don't say that… I know he is still alive…" she said gloomily.

She looked up at the moon. "_Raki, where are you?" _she thought in her head.

"So you killed those three yoma? And You aren't inured at all?" asked a cheery Clara with wonder in her voice, walking beside Raki.

"Yes…" grumbled Raki.

"Where did you get that huge sword?" she asked.

"I took it from some bandit I killed…" he said sounding a bit more annoyed.

Clara stepped up on a fallen log and walked forward on it, beside Raki, holding her hands out to her sides to keep balance. "Why did you kill him?" she asked.

"Because I didn't like him…" he said coldly.

"Why didn't you like him?" she said stepping off the log.

"Because he kept asking me a bunch of stupid questions…" he said sounding annoyed.

There was a pause.

"That's it?" she asked. "That's the only reason?"

She clearly wasn't getting the message...

Raki gave up, he sighed. "AND, he killed a few people… well, a LOT of people."

"So he was a bad guy?" she asked.

"Yes…"

"And that's what you do? You kill the bad guys?" she said looking up at him with gleeful eyes.

"_God I hope I wasn't this annoying to Clare…"_ he thought to himself.

"Yes, and yoma…" he said.

"That's amazi-"

"SHH." he said cutting her off. "We're walking into an ambush…" he drew his sword.

Suddenly Raki heard rustling all around him. Then out of nowhere six large armed men surrounded him with their weapons pointed at him.

Raki grabbed Clara and pulled her to his side. "Stay behind me!" he said.

Raki heard footsteps slowly come up behind him. He turned around and faced the man who was approaching him.

"Well, well, well… long time no see…" said the man smugly.

"You…" growled Raki.

The man began to speak. "It's good to see you…"

"Old friend…"


	2. Going Home

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"It's good to see you... old friend…" said an older man with a western accent.

Raki glared at the man who was approaching him.

"Spare me the 'Old Friend' bullshit Dariel. I told you that if I ever saw you again I would kill you…" growled Raki.

"Oh really? Well here I am, and by the looks of it, you're outnumbered." Said Dariel.

Raki looked around himself. All six of the men who surrounded him looked like they knew what they were doing. Raki could tell that they were dangerous.

One of the thugs surrounding him spoke up, "Boss, he's got a claymore with him!" he said.

At his words, Clara stepped closer to Raki, it was true that she had yoma flesh in her, but it was also true that she was just a trainee, and barely knew anything about fighting. But these men didn't know that…

Some of the men took a step back, none of them wanted to fight with a Claymore.

Raki glanced at the man who just spoke, he immediately recognized him as the man from the inn, who pinpointed Clara as a claymore earlier. "_Damn, I knew there was something off about that guy, I guess that's how they found me…"_ he thought to himself.

One of the larger men spoke up. "Who? That little brat? She's just a little girl, how tough could she be?" he said taking a few steps forward.

"I wouldn't do that, she is still half monster, she may look small but she could easily take us down." said another man. At these words, the larger man who was approaching Raki stopped.

At last Dariel spoke up. "Stand down boys, that's not what we are here for." he said eyeing Raki.

Dariel held his hands out to his sides, showing that he wasn't holding a weapon. "You can relax, I'm just here to talk." he said, coming closer to Raki.

Raki didn't lower his weapon, instead he continued to glare at the man. "And why should I believe you?" he bellowed.

"Because if I wanted you dead I would have let my boys just kill you already. And besides, you and I go way back!" he grinned

"What do you want?" asked Raki

"Listen kid, you're a killer, you are the best warrior in this whole damn country! I want you on my team! In my gang! Just like the good old days!" he said hopefully.

Raki's eyes narrowed. "There were no good old days! You're a murderer! I am nothing like you!"

Dariel frowned "Not anymore I guess… You went soft kid, you left us so you could go find some stupid claymore! Someone who isn't even human!"

"More human than you…" responded Raki.

"Now that's just hurtful!" responded Dariel.

"I'll tell you what. You let me and the girl go and I won't kill you. Sound good?" spat Raki.

"Ha! Good luck, in case you haven't noticed, you're outnumbered." Dariel laughed.

Raki kept a calm face, he showed no hint of fear.

"Okay, I suppose it is your choice… You can either hear me out and we can come to some kind of agreement, OR, I can let my boys here kill you and then let em do whatever they want with that little Claymore of yours." said Dariel.

"Not happening…You let us go! Or this gets ugly..." bellowed Raki, tightening his grip on his sword.

"Hmmm… that's too bad, we could have avoided your death…" he said smugly.

"Kill him!" ordered Dariel. "And take the girl."

At that moment all of the armed thugs charged in at Raki at once.

Raki quickly grabbed Clara, and he rolled out of the way. When he got to his feet he looked back at Clara.

"Stay close to me!" he ordered. "And pass me your sword!" he said. Clara gave him her training sword.

Half a second later Raki blocked an incoming attack with it. He quickly plunged his real sword into his attackers stomach.

Immediately afterwards, he had to pull it out and block two incoming attacks, one on his left and one on his right, holding Clara's sword in his left hand he blocked the left attack, and he blocked the right with his own sword.

He sent a kick to the man on his right, and then he cut him down with ease.

Raki turned left and as he continued to block the attacker on his left, he used his other sword to take of his attackers head.

Four left. If you included Dariel.

Two men charged at Raki from his front, when they got in range Raki ducked down and cut both of them in half with one swing of his sword.

Raki stood up and looked at the last man, who was standing between him and Dariel, the man was shaking.

Raki stared at him with an expression of boredom. The silence was deafening. No one moved.

Finally Raki broke the silence. "Boo!" said Raki, quickly taking two steps towards him. Before Raki could take any more steps the man turned and ran. Leaving Raki alone with Dariel.

"I'll say it once…" he growled. Approaching Dariel

"If I ever see your face again, I will not hesitate to feed you to the next yoma I find!" he roared knocking Dariel to the ground.

He put his sword against Dariels throat. "Do you understand?" said Raki.

Dariel froze with a look of terror on his face, "Please! Let me go! You won't ever see me again!" He pleaded.

"Fine, but only because I don't kill people who aren't armed...nor people with obvious disabilities..." replied Raki.

Clara looked up at Raki "He has a disability?" she asked.

"No Clara, it was an insult, He doesn't actually…(sigh) nevermind..." he said rolling his eyes.

He gently grabbed Clara by the wrist and led her away from Dariel.

"C'mon I'm taking you to your grandparents in Hanel." He said.

"You mean Mirstone right?" corrected Clara.

Raki stared down at her like she was stupid. He had lied about where he was going to throw off Dariel in case he wanted to follow them. But Clara had just gave away where they were going.

Raki shook his head and walked on. He reassured himself that he had scared Dariel enough that he wouldn't follow.

Little did Raki know that Clara's little outburst would lead him down a path that he couldn't turn back from.

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(Later that night)

"Is that enough?" asked Raki, as he handed Clara part of a squirrel that he caught and cooked.

"Mmhm" she said nodding her head.

"I know you don't eat much, so that should be enough right?" he said.

"Yea it is, oh and thank you Raki." said Clara.

He smiled "It's nothing, I used to cook for Clare all ..the….time" he stopped himself. His face became much more serious and depressed.

"Clare…" he whispered her name.

"Raki? Are you okay? What's wrong?" asked Clara.

"Nothing, don't worry about it." he regained his cold and empty composure.

"Is Clare that woman? That Claymore that Dariel was talking about?" she asked.

Raki remained silent, he made his way back to the other side of the fire, "I don't want to discuss this right now." he said sitting down.

Raki got started on his own food, Clara watched him. She had so many questions, but she didn't want to push Raki.

When Raki finished eating, he looked back across the fire at Clara. She reminded him of Clare. He was so close to finding her, yet he felt more sad than ever...

In his mind when he looked across the way at Clara he could almost see Clare looking back at him. Raki's heart felt heavy in his chest. His mind was worried, what would she think of him when he found her? Would she be proud of who he had become? Or would she reject him and push him away for the monster that he was.

He remembered back then, one of the first nights he spent with Clare, he remembered having a million questions for her, but not wanting to ask because he didn't want to push her. Perhaps Clara was in a similar situation.

Raki decided to break the silence.

He got up and walked over to where Clara was sitting, picking up her claymore on the way.

"Here Clara I want to show you something." He said holding out Clara's claymore.

Clara stood up and took her sword from his hands.

"I want you to stab this into the ground, but make sure that the flat side is pointing towards the fire." he explained.

Clara did as she was told, and she plunged her Claymore into the ground.

"Good." said Raki. "Now you have something to lean back against." he explained with a smile.

Clara looked back at him and smiled, "Thank you Raki." she said with brightness in her voice. She sat down and leaned back against her sword.

"So… what town are you from?" he asked her, trying to keep the silence broken.

Clara looked at the fire, "I'm from Greenfield…" said Clara, with a growing sadness in her voice.

Raki's eyes widened, just a few years ago Greenfield had been overrun with Yoma, the town was destroyed and there were barely any survivors.

Raki spoke up "Clara… you know that greenfield was-"

"Destroyed." she cut him off, her voice was filled with sadness. "My parents… they were…" her voice broke. "I watched my parents…" tears began to form her eyes. She went silent and put her head down.

Raki knelt down beside her, "Hey, it's alright, I know how you feel." he said placing a hand on her shoulder. "I watched my parents get eaten, and my brother ended up being a yoma." he said. "I'm sorry this happened to you, but listen, if your parents were still here, they wouldn't want you to cry, they would want you to be strong and love life." he said.

She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "Do you really think so?" she asked.

"I know so… Now get some sleep, we have a long walk ahead of us." he said returning to his side of the fire.

Clara felt a little better, perhaps Raki wasn't as cold as he seemed. She had no clue who this Clare woman was, but she must have been special to him. Clara decided not to dwell on it. She wiped her face with her sleeve and leaned back against her sword, it was surprisingly comfortable, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, trying her best to let the memory of her parents escape her.

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Clara and Raki walked for miles, for most of the time, the two of them were silent, but periodically Clara would ramble on to Raki, or just ask him questions.

Some of the highlights being:

"How do you think people discovered honey? Do you think some crazy guy thought he could eat a bee hive? Or did they just watch bears eat honey?"

"How did we discover carrots if they grow in the ground?"

"Why do people have different hair colors?"

"Do you like music? I like music. What's your favorite kind of music?"

"Have you ever met someone who was crazy? I have…. they have a lot of weird things to say."

"Why do we get old?"

And finally…. "Why did that mean Dariel guy call you old friend?"

Raki stopped dead in his tracks.

Every other question he usually responded with silence or "I don't know" but this question, he could not avoid. It was a question that haunted him.

"Because we were friends… a long time ago…" he said regretfully.

"Why would you ever be friends with someone like that?" She asked.

"I was in a bad place… and I needed someone to help me…" he responded.

"What happened? What was he helping you with?" She wondered.

Raki remained silent, he just stared off into the distance. "C'mon, lets just keep moving."

Clara did as he said and followed him, a bit bothered at how he dodged the question.

Everything seemed fine until Raki heard a yelp come from Clara.

He quickly turned around to see what had happened.

To his surprise the ground beneath Clara's feet had given way and she fell about four feet into a lake.

Clara immediately began yelling and splashing her arms, "Raki help me! I can't swim!" she cried.

Raki stared in disbelief, how had Clara not realised that the water was only three and a half feet deep?

Raki quickly dove into the water and lifted the brave warrior onto his shoulders and carried her to shore.

When he set her down she immediately ran into him and hugged him, "Thank you…" she said quietly.

"How does a claymore not know how to swim?" he asked

"I'm just a trainee!" she retorted, stepping away from him. She was completely soaked.

Raki smiled and let out a small laugh. Clara began giggling as well, when Raki heard this he laughed slightly louder, to which Clara began laughing even louder.

After a moment they both went silent again. Raki still held a smile, he ruffled Clara's hair and then kept walking.

"_Even if she's kinda annoying sometimes, she's fun to have around." _He found himself thinking.

He immediately caught himself. "_No… I can't get caught up thinking like that… She's only gonna be around for a few more days… I shouldn't get attached." _he thought to himself.

"Let's keep moving…" he said.

Clara quickly ran to catch up with him.

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(Two nights later)

After four days and three nights together, their journey seemed like it was coming to an end. They had stopped and made camp just a few miles outside of Mirstone, where Clara and Raki would part ways.

The night was quiet, the only sound was the crackling of the fire which was placed between Clara and Raki.

Clara stared up at Raki from across the fire. She knew this was also the end of the road. Her eyes had lost their cheery demeanor, her mouth slumped downward slightly.

"Clara what's wrong?" asked Raki. "Aren't you glad that you're gonna be reunited with your family?" he asked.

Clara nodded her head. "I am glad. I really want to see them, it's just... "

"Just what?" he asked.

She looked down. "It's just that… these past few days have been some of the best in my life. No one has ever been as nice to me as you have. I know I can't but I just want to keep exploring with you! I don't want this to be over…" she said mournfully.

Raki knew how she felt, he had felt the same way about Clare. The only difference was that Clare never left him… not intentionally anyway. But even if he could keep this little girl around, she would be better off with her family. Raki knew that he had changed over seven years, he was no longer the same warm hearted kid he was before. After everything he had done, a lot of bad people wanted him dead.

He couldn't let a child get caught up in all that… even if she was a Claymore.

He stood up. He walked over to where Clara was sitting and knelt down.

He looked her in the eyes and put one hand on her shoulder.

"Look kid, I know you had might have had fun here, but we have to go our separate ways… I'm sorry. You have to be with your family… I can't take care of you"

This did not make Clara feel any better, she pulled her knees in closer to her chest and put her head down.

Raki let out a sigh and backed away.

He went to his side of the fire and laid his head down, that night he didn't get any sleep at all.

He put himself in Clara's position. What if Clare had just ditched him. He couldn't imagine how he would have felt.

"_With all that I've done… and all the people who want me dead… If she stuck around… she would die…"_ thought Raki.

His heart felt heavy and for the rest of the night he laid still feeling nothing but guilt.

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(The Next Day)

The walk from their campsite and the village of Mirstone was long and quiet. Clara hadn't started her usual chatter, and Raki didn't feel like talking (That's nothing new these days).

When they finally made it to Mirstone their silence was finally broken.

"Hey Clara, how are your grandparents gonna react when they find out that you became a… you know…"

Clara looked up at Raki. "I don't know how they will react…..I'm not even sure if-" She was cut off by a loud "CLARA!?"

Clara and Raki looked off to their right and saw an older woman, who looked to be in her early 50's staring at Clara with a smile.

"Is that her?" asked Raki, to an excited Clara who was smiling at her grandmother.

Seconds later she ran into her grandmother's arms with tears in her eyes.

Raki looked on and smiled as the two of them were reunited.

Clara's grandmother knelt down and spoke quietly to Clara. Raki couldn't hear anything that was said, but he could tell that Clara was going to be fine.

Raki knew that he could have asked for an award, or maybe even some food. But he didn't need it.

Raki turned around and began to walk out of town.

As Clara was talking to her grandmother she looked over shoulder and saw Raki walking away.

"Uh-One second grandma!" she said quickly.

Clara ran as fast as she could to catch up with Raki.

"Raki wait!" she cried. Raki stopped walking, and he turned around.

"You're not even gonna say goodbye?" she asked pleadingly.

"I'm sorry… you just looked like you were a little busy, that's all… and I'm no good at goodbyes." said Raki.

Clara looked down and kicked the dirt. "It's okay Raki… neither am I really…" she sighed.

Raki looked down at her. "So I guess this is goodbye…" he lamented.

Clara just nodded her head, she was still looking down.

Raki lightly lifted her head up from her chin, so he could look her in the eyes.

She was crying.

He didn't say anything.

He knelt down and hugged her as she wiped her eyes. "Don't cry Clara… love your life, and be happy that you have a family." he urged.

Clara sniffled and nodded her head.

"Wait… before you go, I want you to have this…" he smiled and took off his backpack.

He reached inside and pulled out a small pendant. It was silver and had a blue jewel in the center.

"It was my mothers…" he explained as he handed it to Clara. "Now I want you to have it… so you can remember me."

Clara looked at it closely. It was beautiful. She looked back at him and smiled. "Thank you Raki…"

"Don't mention it kid, and promise me you won't be getting into any trouble okay?" he said.

Clara nodded her head.

Without another word, Raki stood up, turned around, and walked away.

Clara looked on with sadness as he walked away. She didn't move until he had gone out of sight.

"Goodbye…" she whispered at last. Turning back to head home with her grandmother.

As they went their separate ways an onlooker watched from a distance, smiling.

He blended into plain sight, sitting on a bench just outside of the local Inn.

As Clara walked into her new home, his grin grew even more.

"Dariel will be happy to hear about this…"


End file.
